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Rough Guides Presents… Julia Bradbury On Where To Go When: Great Britain & Ireland
Saturday 6 February
Theatre 2
Time: 3.00pm
Title: Rough Guides Presents… Julia Bradbury On Where To Go When: Great Britain & Ireland
In Conversation With Dan Linstead
JULIA was born in Dublin to a Greek mother and a Derbyshire born father. The family moved back to the UK in the early 70's and settled in Rutland (the smallest county in Britain).
Business interests of both parents also took them to Sheffield where Julia went to school. She took part in the Crucible Theatre’s stage production of Peter Pan, starring Joanne Whalley and Paula Wilcox where she donned a fishtail and got afternoons off school playing a mermaid – Julia’s first professional engagement.
After leaving school she moved to London to live with Gina and after a short spell of working in the family fashion business, she followed her dream of working in television.
Julia’s career has been non-stop and amazingly varied, from Watchdog (BBC) to, Accidental Heroes (BBC), Rough Guide (Channel 5), Wainwright Walks (BBC) and Railway Walks (BBC).
She started as a TV presenter with Chrysalis TV, followed by L!VE TV, before making the transition in 1996 from cable TV to terrestrial with GMTV as their Los Angeles correspondent. She has presented Top Gear for the BBC, Wish You Were Here...? for ITV and has anchored Exclusive! for Five.
In 2007, she presented Wainwright Walks on BBC Four in which she followed the mountain routes of the renowned fell walker and guide book author Alfred Wainwright. The series was later repeated on BBC 2 and ran for two series. Her appearance in this and the "Railway Walks" series earned her the somewhat chauvinistic but amusing title of "Walking Man's Totty".
In August 2007 she presented Ultimate Britain – Climbing on BBC1, with extreme climber Tim Emmett. Julia's lifetime ambition to be a 'real' rock climber was achieved when the pair successfully ascended Commando Ridge in Cornwall, Crackstone Rib in Llanberis Pass, North Wales, and the Old Man of Stoer in Sutherland, Scotland.
In January 2008, January 2009 & January 2010 she has presented three series of Kill it, Cook it, Eat it on BBC Three. The first series concentrated on commercially farmed animals such as chickens, pigs, sheep and cattle. The second series featured hunted wild game such as ducks, rabbits, deer and grouse. The third series focuses on fast food where a group of 6 go through the process of killing, cooking and eating and get heavily involved in the process. In Autumn 2008, she presented "Accidental Heroes" and Railway Walks. Bradbury is also one of the current regular presenters of the travel show Rough Guide on Five.
In April 2009 she started presenting a relaunched, primetime Countryfile with Matt Baker.
On July 20th 2009 her series Coast To Coast started on BBC2 at 10pm.
She was one of the celebrities who in summer 2009 took part in the BBC programme 'Around the world in 80 Days' where 'in a re-enactment of Jules Verne's literary odyssey, six pairs of celebrities race against the clock to raise money for 2009's BBC Children in Need'.
‘To celebrate the publication of Dorling Kindersley Travel Where to Go When: Great Britain & Ireland, foreword writer Julia Bradbury will be talking about the diversity and rewards of holidaying at home’
Interviewed by Dan Linstead
Dan Linstead is the editor of Wanderlust, the leading magazine for independent and adventurous travellers. He worked as an advertising copywriter before taking a career break in 1999 and spending 18 months on the road in Australia and SE Asia. Since then, he’s written for and edited numerous publications, winning a British Society of Magazine Editors award in 2004. He now plans and commissions most of Wanderlust’s features – and very occasionally gets to write one.
